Jeannette B. (poulin) Potvin

Haverhill, MA: Jeannette B. (Poulin) Potvin, R.N., 87, of Haverhill and formerly of Plaistow, NH, died on Friday, January 10, 2014 at the Merrimack Valley Hospice House, following an extended illness.

Born, raised, and educated in Sanford, ME, daughter of the late Adolphe and Laura (Charland) Poulin, she graduated from Sanford High School in 1944. She went on to attend the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary where she received training as a registered nurse and served in the U.S. Cadet Nursing Corps from 1942 until 1948.

Mrs. Potvin worked for Bon Secours Hospital for several years in the Intensive Care Nursery after which she worked with her late husband, Dr. Bernard Potvin, O.D., in his office as the office manager.

Mrs. Potvin was a former resident of Whitehall Road in Amesbury for twenty-eight years before moving to Plaistow in 1989 and finally to Haverhill in 2008.

She was a member of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish and the former Holy Angels Parish, where she was a member of the Parish Choir. She was also a member of the Interfaith Choir and a former member of the Richelieu Club of Lawrence, MA. Former president of the Alliance for Mentally Ill of Newburyport and Haverhill, and former board member of The Ladies of Merrimack, she was also a member of the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary Alumni Association and a volunteer for the American Red Cross.

A loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Mrs. Potvin was completely devoted to her family. She was an accomplished gourmet cook and also enjoyed flower arranging, shopping, dancing and singing.

She was predeceased by her husband, Dr. Bernard S. Potvin, O.D., and is survived by her sons Marc B. Potvin of Manchester, NH, Dr. Paul R. Potvin,M.D. and his wife Constance of Hampden, ME, and Carl W. Potvin and his wife Barbara of Rochester, NH, her daughters and sons-in-law, Jeannette and Roger Lambert of Atkinson, NH, and Dr. Laura A. Potvin, O.D. and Richard Bibaud of Newton, NH, eleven grandchildren, Vanessa Gelinas and her husband Derek, Monique Lambert and her companion Dan Barton, Amelia Potvin, Eliot Potvin and his companion Lauren Berg, Nathaniel Bibaud, Zachary Bibaud, Jamison Bibaud, Kaela Gilbert, Nathan Gilbert, Luke Gilbert, and Brooke Gilbert, two great-grandchildren, Kaylee and Asher, a brother, Leo Poulin of New Mexico, two sisters, Rena Fortin of East Hartford, CT, and Lauriane Valley of Sanford, ME, and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her brothers, William and Romeo Poulin, and her sister, Rose Twele.

Relatives and friends may call on Monday, January 13, 2014 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Brookside Chapel & Funeral Home, 116 Main Street, Route 121A, Plaistow, NH. Her funeral will begin on Tuesday at 9 a.m. from the funeral home with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. at Holy Angels Church of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish, Plaistow. Burial will take place in April at Holy Angels Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the New Hampshire Mentally Ill Alliance, 85 North State Street, Concord, NH 03301. To leave a message of condolence for the family please visit our website, www.brooksidechapelfh.com.